Tuesday, August 02, 2005

The recent use of quotes from an anonymous Iraqi in two military press releases was an "egregious error," the Pentagon's top spokesman said in a memo aimed at preventing it from happening again.

Lawrence Di Rita also said Monday that an investigation was under way into how the quotes made it into the press releases. They were versions of the same quote, modified the second time it was used...

The first quote was used in a press release issued by the 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq on July 13. The second appeared on July 24.

The military has since removed the quotes from the press releases posted on its Web site. The originals were unavailable at the Pentagon.

According to CNN.com, which picked up the quotes before they were removed, the military's July 13 release came after an attack. The sentence quoting the Iraqi read:

"'The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the children and all of Iraq,' said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified. 'They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists.'"

The July 24 release was after a second attack, this one on Iraqi security forces (ISF):

"'The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the ISF and all of Iraq. They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists,' said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified."